1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a high energy oxidizer and a method of producing the same. The composition of the present invention is particularly useful for applications, such as solid propellants and NF.sub.3 -F.sub.2 gas generators.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For oxygen-containing oxidizers, the combination of an oxidizing cation with an oxidizing anion in the form of a stable solid has previously been achieved, as demonstrated by the well known existence of nitronium perchlorate NO.sub.2 .sup.+ ClO.sub.4.sup.-. Whereas fluorine compounds are generally stronger oxidizers than the corresponding oxygen compounds, the synthesis of very powerful, solid, ionic, fluorine containing oxidizers had previously not been possible owing to the incompatibility between energetic anions and the cations. Attempts to combine oxidizing highly fluorinated cations and anions had always resulted in decomposition, accompanied by elimination of elemental fluorine. Consequently, all the previously known solid highly fluorinated oxidizers consisted of the combination of an energetic ion with an non-energetic counter ion. The only progress made in this area consisted of minimizing the relative weight of the non-energetic counter ion. Obviously, the performance of such oxidizers could be significantly improved if the combination of an energetic anion with an energetic cation in the form of a stable solid were possible.